How Binder Photo-books helped self-publish a Magnum Foundation photographer’s first photo-book
Photographs by Sneha Kar
“Where the birds never sing” is Soumya Sankar Bose’s first book. The book is based on Marichjhapi massacre, the forcible eviction in 1979 of lower caste Bengali refugees on Marichjhapi Island in Sundarban, West Bengal, and the subsequent death of thousands by police gunfire, starvation, and disease.
Printing an art-book is no child’s play
At Binder Photo-books, we print and help hundreds of photographers self-publish their work. Out of 50,000 quality presses in India, who may have the same facilities as us, only about a handful are able to work with photographers and artists. The reason being — perspective. As Binder was found by photographers-turned-publishers, we are able to draw parallels easily when it comes to attention to detail. A photo-book is a medium where the photographer should be able to reproduce the emotion in their work appropriately, and consistently. It is also a medium that propels the work of the photographer by adding a new dimension — tangibility. At times, certain limitations, or unique abilities of the print process, create desirable difference to the art work that the photographer may have been initially unaware of. This is where the print itself, becomes the artwork, superseding the original idea as a mere input.
In order to deliver this, we need to take immense care at every stage of the production process because no matter how experienced we get over time, every project presents a new set of challenges to deal with, and to learn from.
Some background
Soumya is associated with Magnum Foundation, World Press Photo, and is represented by Experimenter Gallery.
In order to make sure that every aspect of the project is done to the satisfaction of the artist, we invited Soumya and Barnali Bose (who designed the book), to the press facility in New Delhi.
He was confident that his first book will set a precedent for all his future works.
Challenges
While every book has challenges that one can foresee, as well as challenges that only reveal themselves while the machine is already running — Soumya’s book was full of experimental print and fabrication.
The book features de-bossing on the spine, laser cut documents, in-line inserts (including one printed on butter paper), a booklet, as well as a double gate fold. It also comes in a hard case sleeve that has a small opening in the back, which helps in pushing the book out of the enclosure.
Over and above all this, the greatest challenge was to match the prints in offset with the approved dummy produced by the HP Indigo machine.
Printers are often reluctant in making the effort to match HP Indigo prints with offset because it is a tedious process and results in a lot of wastage of paper before the final run can begin — taking up press time and resources. For us, it is a practice that we happily encourage.
Choosing an ideal offset press
We are equipped with both — Heidelberg offset machines for high volumes, as well as the HP Indigo 5500, for small runs. Both these machines use water based solvents to print on paper, unlike digital machines that use toner ink. This enables us to produce absolutely matte, non-reflective prints at very high definition.
We chose the smaller Heidelberg that can print upto 18x24 inches. We were able to fit only eight pages of the book in one plate of this machine. This, however, gave us greater control on colour matching, that is an imperative in photo-books. Our larger Heidelberg that can print up 30x40 inches, is better for printing single image posters. Since the plate covers such a vast area, it becomes difficult to control colour on specific pages without influencing other pages.
All the offset colour plates were prepared in 200 LPI line screening. Density of the line screens, to some extent, determines the definition of details in printed artifacts — when seen from up close. We chose 200 as the book was braided with black backgrounds and low key images. At higher line screens there are greater challenges like moire, tonal inconsistency, dot gain, etc.
On a separate note, there is also FM screening that we do, that solves a lot of the aforesaid problems, yet producing new ones. Due to the nature of images, distribution of text and backgrounds, we chose 200 AM line screening to prepare the plates.
Choice of paper
There are broadly two kinds of paper — coated and uncoated. However, all papers are born uncoated. Some papers are coated with clay in order to produce a smooth surface for ink to sit on, thus, producing enhanced quality. In India, most news papers are printed on uncoated paper, and most magazines are printed on coated paper.
Uncoated papers have a rough finish with an absolute non-reflective matte quality but are a nightmare to print on, depending on the nature of the book.
We decided to go with 130 gsm of an Italian, FSC certified, coated paper for Soumya’s book. The paper is tried and tested, has a consistent grain, and has good colour retention. This paper is available in two types — natural shade and super white. We chose the super white variant because most images in the book had a warm cast. Therefore, super white paper would bring balance to the tones.
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Choice of fabrication
The book is hard-bound. We first planned on sewing sections together, and then mounting the hard cover. However, since the book has a lot of pages with black background fills, the sewing holes began to expose glue leaks that became prominently visible, and an obvious deterrent to the viewer.
We switched to PUR binding. PUR refers to a method of ‘perfect binding’ that has become increasingly popular in the last few years. As with traditional perfect binding, a book’s pages and cover are glued together to the spine while the three remaining sides are trimmed to give them the classic “perfect” edges. Switching to PUR process, not only solved the glue exposure problem, but also provided increased strength to the book, with no threads in sight, and most importantly, helped the viewer to open the book better.
Problems, and their solutions
Choosing paper types, printing technique, binding methods, is one thing. When the book goes into production, numerous things can go wrong.
- In the case of Soumya’s book, a white translucent band began to appear when we set up the plates of a particular section. This happened because of a large, blank area adjacent to the image on which the band was appearing. After much rigmarole, we decided to change the placement of the images, and the issue was resolved.
- A white band began to appear on an image with a man standing on a boat, with the sky in the background. We tried to control it by cleaning the plates with chemical, adjusting the blanket and rollers of the machine, but it could not be controlled beyond a point. So, we got new plates made at 175 lines per inch. This resulted in the band to disappear.
- The paper pasted on the cover, as well as on the hard case sleeve, is uncoated, textured paper. Since uncoated paper absorbs a great deal of ink, colours seem fade in comparison to coated papers. This was corrected to a great extent and details became increasingly prominent as the paper dried.
All’s well that ends well
Despite challenges, Soumya was happy to see his work in a book form, as he desired, as an artist. As a photographer-turned-printer, I can say that I know what it feels like to hold in hand, your first book. It is a feeling like no other just like holding a new born.
